Our District Superintendent
A short Biography of Rev. Oscar N. Carrasco, Elgin District Superintendent for the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church. Commentaries from Oscar can be found here.
Oscar was born and raised in the Chilean Andean town of Cura Cautin. One of twelve children, Oscar is a third generation Methodist. As a youth, he was active in the Southern District of the Methodist Church of Chile. In l964, Oscar participated in the Alfalit literacy outreach in the coal mining towns of Lota and Coronel where he taught illiterate miners to read. In l968, he was the youngest delegate to the Chilean Annual Conference representing his local church. In l969, Oscar was elected president of the Southern District Youth and began his studies at the Technical University of Chile.
In 1971, Oscar met Shelia Joyce Spence who was serving as a Latin American "3" missionary with the Board of Global Ministries. Joyce's assigned area included Oscar's church in Curacautin. It was while working at district Vacation Bible Schools that Oscar and Joyce met. On February 12, 1972, Oscar and Joyce were married in his own home church by Bishop Raimundo Valenzuela, Bishop of the Methodist Church in Chile.
In late July, l973, Oscar, Joyce and their 3 month old son, Samuel, left Chile for the U.S.A. In the fall of l973, Oscar and Joyce entered Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. During seminary, Oscar completed a year's internship in Florida working with the Lee County Mission Board. He also served a three year appointment to the Lula-Hickory Flat Charge in the North Georgia Conference.
After completing his Master's of Divinity, Oscar was the founding pastor of North Georgia¹s first Hispanic church, San Marcos. In l983, he transferred to the Northern Indiana Conference where he served for nine years at the First United Methodist Church of East Chicago where an outstanding Latino Ministry outreach developed. In l991, Oscar was invited to serve in the Northern Illinois Conference and was appointed to the East Side UMC. In l996, he was appointed to the First United Methodist Church of Oak Lawn. In 2002 was asked to become the Director of Connectional Ministries for the Conference.
On July 1st, 2006, he was appointed as the Elgin District Superintendent.
